I almost caused a rift in the family by breaking with the family brownie recipe and claiming the Baker's recipe as my standby. What can I say? I prefer fudgy brownies to cakey ones. Besides, you can make these with only a bowl and a fork!

Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate and butter together in a large microwaveable bowl on high for 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir sugar into chocolate mixture until well blended. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour until well blended. Spread batter in a 9”x13” pan lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with fudgy crumbs. Do not overbake. Cool in pan. Makes 24 brownies.

Heat oil in a saucepan or large skilled over med. high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in wine or vinegar and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, uncovered, about 15 minutes. Stir in chopped fresh parsley, if desired.

Flatten chicken to 1/4” thickness with a rolling pin. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan, Italian seasoning and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge each chicken breast in flour, then in egg whites, then in bread-crumb mixture. Heat oil in a large skillet over med. high heat and add chicken. Cook 5 minutes on each side or until done.

Place 1 c. spaghetti on each plate. Spoon 1/2 c. pasta sauce over each serving. Top each with 1 chicken breast and spoon 1/4 c. sauce over. Sprinkle each with 1/4 c. mozzarella. Microwave until cheese melts.

Sift together flour & baking soda and set aside. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg & vanilla; mix well. Add the sifted flour in additions on low speed until well combined. Stir in oatmeal, cherries if desired, chocolate and toffee pieces and mix to combine.

Dough can be frozen in logs, chilled for 1-2 days, or baked immediately. Bake on parchment paper at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Cook tomatoes in 1 t. hot oil over med. high heat for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 2 T. vinegar. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. Wrap handle of pan with foil and bake at 300 for 15 minutes.

Combine mayo, mustard and garlic in a small bowl. Spread mixture evenly over top half of cut bread loaf. Spoon tomatoes over bottom half of loaf. Arrange Brie over tomatoes, top with chicken. Add spinach and replace top half of bread. Cut loaf into 6 pieces.

Combine juice and apples in a bowl; toss well. Drain apples. Place in an airtight container and chill. Serve dip with apples. (I never use Red Delicious, because I don't care for them. Use whatever apples you like!)

Combine tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, and corn in a medium bowl. Drain and rinse peas and add to bowl. Add avocados last and pour dressing over top, stirring as little as possible. Gently mix ingredients evenly with a large spoon. Serve with tortilla chips. Keep refrigerated up to one week (not that it will last that long!)

Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees. Next, remove the exposed (cut) end of the sprouts. Then, cut them in half and place them in a bowl, mixing them with an eighth of a cup of olive oil and salt and pepper.

From there, spread the sprouts out evenly on a baking sheet. If they are bunched together, they will steam instead of roast, and you’ll lose the beautiful flavor because the sprouts will not caramelize. Put them in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. It’s okay if the outer leaves turn brown.

The shallots and garlic really make this dish. While the sprouts roast, heat an eighth of a cup of olive oil in a skillet. Then add the shallots, chopped thyme and garlic and sauté the mixture until it begins to soften and turns translucent.

Once you remove the sprouts from the oven, add them to the garlic-and-shallots mixture. Check the seasoning before serving.

In a medium bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Add nuts and toss well to coat evenly. Place nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet that has been coated with non-stick coating spray. (I like to use parchment paper.)

Bake for 12-15 min, or until golden brown. Immediately scoop nuts onto a sheet of foil and spread nuts apart to cool thoroughly. Stores for 1 week in an airtight container. (this is by far the easiest way of making candied nuts I've ever tried)

Whisk together all dressing ingredients in a small bowl, adding the oil last. It's best to first toss the spinach with the dressing, then add the strawberries, pecans, and onion and toss again. Add cheese at the very end. Don't over-mix.

Preheat oven to 350. Cook meat in a large nonstick skillet until browned. Drain and return to pan. Stir in salt, pepper, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Combine sour cream, green onions, and cream cheese in a small bowl. Place the noodles in a 2-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Spread the sour cream mixture over noodles. Top with meat mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover; bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Serves 6.

Cook and drain pasta. Toss with chicken, grapes, pineapple, celery, and onions. Mix together dressing ingredients and toss with salad. Refrigerate several hours and add almonds just before serving. Wonderful with croissants. Serves a crowd.

Combine all ingredients and beat well. Pour batter into a greased Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes (test with a toothpick for doneness; there should just be crumbs, no gooeyness). Enjoy your fabulous creation. (This was the groom’s cake at my wedding reception.)

Heat vegetable oil in a small skillet and dip corn tortillas to soften. Drain on paper towels.

For each tortilla, place a spoonful of beef and a small handful of cheese on one side. (If desired, sprinkle a small amount of chopped raw onion as well.) Place a spoonful of the tomato sauce inside and fold tortilla over. Place folded tortillas in a large baking pan (they can be squished together if necessary) and pour sauce over. Sprinkle lots of cheese on top and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

*For caramel rolls, place a generous amount of brown sugar in the bottom of a cake pan. Dot with butter and sprinkle with pecans. Roll out dough with butter and brown sugar and form into rolls. Place in prepared pan. Turn out of pan after baking onto a wire rack.

This is one of my favorite Spring/Summer desserts. By the way, I am a big Cooking Light fan; I was a subscriber for years and years and they have great recipes. Their website is very cool, too. (This is 6 points for you Weight Watchers fans.)

Pour batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Place in a larger baking pan; add hot water to larger pan to depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Saute the carrots and shallots until they start to get soft and lightly browned. Add the tomatoes (undrained) and the wine. (You can omit the wine if you wish -- it will still be good, but there won't be as much depth to the flavor.)

Simmer until the carrots are just soft (not mushy). Use an immersion blender to puree most of the sauce -- you still want it to be a little chunky (or not, depending on your preference!). If you don't have an immersion blender, just puree 2/3 of the sauce in a regular blender and then return to the skillet. Add the butter to smooth out the sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in the parmesan cheese and maybe 1/4 c. of evaporated milk. (How I love a good rosy-colored sauce!) Serve over al dente fettuccine or angel hair pasta.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening on low for about 30 seconds. Add 2 cups of sugar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and molasses until combined. Mix in flour mixture, stirring by hand if necessary to incorporate it all.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in the ¾ cup sugar and place 1 ½ inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned and tops are puffed. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Directions:Spray 2 large bowls with PAM then add all the dry ingredients together in the two bowls (2 for easier mixing later)

On the stove--melt the sticks of butter, karo syrup and sugar all together. When it comes to a boil, boil for 2 minutes then pour over the dry mixture and toss until completely incorporated.**Spread mixture onto wax paper or onto the counter sprayed with PAM.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" round cake pan and line it with a round of parchment or waxed paper to fit.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the water with 1 c. of the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Boil it for 4 minutes, or until a candy thermometer reads 220 degrees. Take the pan off the heat and immediately add the chocolate pieces, stirring until they are melted and smooth. If the mixture stiffens, don't worry; it will loosen up again when you add the butter. Add the butter immediately, bit by bit, stirring until all of it is used.

Place the eggs and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high speed for 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes are up, turn the mixer down to low. Add the chocolate mixture, stirring only until it is fully incorporated. Do not overbeat, or air bubbles will form.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake pan. Set the pan in a slightly larger baking pan and pour hot water all around it. Do not allow the sides of the pans to touch. Place the cake in the oven and bake it for 25 minutes. Insert the sharp point of a knife into the center of the cake; it if comes out clean, the cake is done. If it does not come out clean, continue to bake for up to 10 minutes. Don't bake the cake for longer than 35 minutes.

Remove the pan from the water bath and immediately unmold it onto a cookie sheet. Remove the parchment or waxed paper. Invert a serving plate over the cake and turn it right side up onto the serving plate. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. Whipped cream is mandatory.

{That last step was the tricky part for me. I wasn't careful enough about inverting the cake, and it kind of went splat on the cookie sheet. Max called it Chocolate Splat, but it was still very delicious! The recipe says it serves 6-8, but it is extremely rich, so I would say that is a conservative estimate.}

(Katrina is my best friend from Seattle. She learned to make this from a friend who served a mission in Italy. It's totally different from American-style lasagna, and it's also one of my very favorite dishes.)

sauce

Mince the following ingredients to a pulp: (I do it in my mini food processor)

1 onion4-5 cloves garlic3 carrots3 stalks of celery

Cover the bottom of a large, heavy stockpot with good-quality olive oil. Add the minced vegetables and saute. Add:

Simmer for a good long time. When sauce is finished, turn off the heat and add 1 jar of good-quality alfredo sauce (Classico is good). (By the way, I've tried making my own alfredo sauce for this recipe and you really can't tell the difference.)

Mix eggs and spinach with enough flour to make a stiff dough. (Add a little of the spinach juice if it gets too stiff.) Knead well, until dough is nice and elastic. Make flat lasagna noodles with a pasta maker. (I suppose you could do this with a rolling pin, but I'm really not that committed.)

Layer sauce, noodles, and good shredded parmesan cheese in a 9" x 13" pan. Continue the layers until 1) you're out of pasta, or 2) your pan is full. End with sauce and another layer of cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Enjoy!

Melt the chocolate in the microwave with 4 T. water (or Grand Marnier) for about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove chocolate from microwave and stir until completely melted. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Separate the eggs; beat the whites with a dash of salt until stiff peaks form.

Whisk the egg yolks into the melted chocolate.

Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Carefully fold in remaining egg whites. Chill for 3 or more hours.

I like to serve it with fancy cookies, but you could also add a dollop of whipped cream.

(Just so you know, I had never made just a plain vanilla one before Jill requested it. I usually pour the custard over sliced bananas or mix in shredded coconut, but to each his own!)

mix in a medium saucepan:2/3 c. sugar1/4 t. saltrounded 1/3 c. flour

whisk in:3 c. milk (whole is delicious here)

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. Boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and pour about 1/3 of the mixture into a heatproof bowl with 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten. (I use the Pyrex measuring cup that I used to measure the milk.) You must whisk the egg yolks the whole time you are pouring in the hot mixture.

Immediately pour the egg mixture back into the pan and return to a boil (this will be very fast). Cook for 1 additional minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 4 T. butter and 1 1/2 t. vanilla.

Prepare an ice bath. I plug up one side of my sink and put in lots of ice cubes and about 3 inches of cold water. Place the hot pan in the ice bath. (This cools the custard down more quickly.) Stir every 5 minutes or so to prevent a skin from forming on the custard. When it has reached room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

**To make a delicious chocolate cream pie, increase the sugar to 1 1/2 c., the flour to a rounded 1/2 c., and add 1 1/2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate when you add the milk.**

To assemble the pie, pre-bake a pie crust, let cool, and pour in the chilled custard. Top with a generous amount of whipped cream. Sprinkle with toasted coconut for coconut cream pie, chocolate shavings for chocolate pie. I have tried a lot of different pie crusts, but, truth be told, I am not a crust connoisseur. For me, the crust is just a vehicle for the filling. Lately, I have been using this recipe from the old Betty Crocker cookbook.

For a 9" pie crust:

Mix together 1 c. sifted flour, 1/2 t. salt. Cut in 1/3 c. shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with 2 T. ice water and quickly mix with fingertips. (You don't want to handle the dough too much or it will not be tender and flaky.) Gather the dough together and press firmly into a ball. Roll out into a circle about 1" larger than your pan. Fit pastry loosely into the pan -- avoid stretching to prevent shrinking. Crimp the edges and prick all over with a fork. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

In a heavy-duty mixer, combine the first four ingredients. Stir until butter melts; let cool to warm. Stir in yeast, cover, and set in warm place until bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Add 5 c. flour and beat to form a thick batter. Add enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Knead 5 minutes in the mixer or 10 minutes by hand.

Place dough in a large greased bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour, punch down; let rise another 20 minutes and punch down again. Knead on a floured board to form a smooth ball. Grease inside of a Dutch oven or large heavy-duty stockpot (including lid). Place dough in the pot and cover. Let rise in a warm place until dough pushes up lid about 1/2" - approximately 20-30 minutes.

Bake, covered with lid, in a 375 degree oven for 12 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the loaf. Loaf is done when golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped. Brush the top with butter and cool on a wire rack.

Thaw puff pastry sheet. Roll it out to a larger, thinner rectangle. Cut out two circles that are bigger than your brie. Place the cheese on one circle of dough and pull up around the sides of the cheese. Top with as much brown sugar and pecans as you can manage to pile on. Cover the entire thing with the other circle of pastry, pinching the two circles of dough together. Use the scraps of dough, if desired, to decorate the top -- adhere with an egg wash and brush top of pastry as well. (In the past I have done leaves. This time I used my new teeny tiny alphabet cookie cutters -- thanks, Mom! -- to spell out Happy New Year.)

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 20 minutes more. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with crusty bread and tart apples.

The recipe calls for grilling the vegetables, but since we still have snow, I just sautéed them in a little olive oil. Either way, cook the peppers and asparagus while the pasta is cooking.

In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, blue cheese, and tomatoes. Add the drained pasta and the cooked vegetables and mix well. Add a little of the pasta cooking water if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Trim the tortillas, if necessary, to fit into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeno, garlic and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the beans and beer or water to the skillet, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium; simmer until the liquid has almost evaporated, about 10 minutes. Stir in the corn and scallions, and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Fit a tortilla in the bottom of the springform pan; layer with 1/4 of the beans and 1/2 c. cheese. Repeat three times, using 1 c. cheese on the top layer. Bake until hot and the cheese is melted, 20-25 minutes. Unmold the pie; sprinkle with scallions if desired. Slice into wedges, and serve immediately with salsa and sour cream.

Beat egg slightly with a fork. Add cream and stir. Stir in flour and salt. Knead gently; roll out on floured surface. Cut into thin strips with pizza cutter. (The noodles will expand as they cook...so thin strips are best!) Add to soup and cook at least 45 minutes.

**Note: I usually double the noodles...they are the best part!

**I made this with canned chicken broth and a rotisserie chicken, and I thought it was even better! And much faster.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine the cookie crust with 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter. Combine the mixture thoroughly and press into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes.

In an electric mixer with a whip attachment, whip the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the remaining 1 cup peanut butter, milk and nuts and whip for 1 minute. Turn the peanut butter mixture into a mixing bowl. Whip 2 cups of the heavy cream and fold into the peanut butter mixture. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and refrigerate for 2 hours or until the pie is set.

In a sauce pan, over medium heat, melt the chocolate with the remaining cream, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove from the heat and cool for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the pie from the springform pan and place on a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour the chocolate topping over the pie, covering the top and sides completely. Refrigerate the pie for 2 hours or until the chocolate coating is set. (I often leave the pie in the springform pan and just pour the chocolate on top.)

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over med. high heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Working in batches, brown pork, 6-8 minutes per batch.

Return pork (with any juices) to pot. Add tomatillos, green chiles, oregano, onion, garlic, jalapenos, and 1 cup water; season with salt and pepper, and stir. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until pork is tender, about 2 hours. (To store, refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.)

Just before serving, stir in chopped cilantro; serve chili with grated cheddar and lime wedges.

(It was more watery than I was expecting, so I served it over cooked rice. Yum.)

Pour into prepared crust and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes, or just until the center is set. Turn oven off and cheesecake remain in oven for 30 minutes without opening the door. (may be baked in a water bath)

Remove cake and run a knife around the edge of the pan. Cool in pan on a wire rack to room temperature, then cover and chill for 8 hours.

Remove sides of pan and pour warm ganache over top and sides of cake. Chill 1 hour before serving.